Three months. That’s how long it’s been since most of us began to realize our lives were changing forever. It feels like a lifetime ago, and in many ways it was. No matter how much things return to normal, whatever that really was, none of us will ever again feel totally at ease. Sooner or later – sooner, I hope – scientists will come up with a vaccine that will halt the advance of Covid-19 but there will be warnings, no matter how effective that vaccine might be in the short term. Corona viruses figure out pretty quickly how to evolve and make vaccines less effective. But maybe we’ll be able to have a respite, for a while anyway.

We’ve all had plenty of time to reflect on just about every aspect of our lives and our place in the world. That’s something that is very, very scary for many people. It gets to a central question of self-worth. Am I really all that important in this world? Who would miss me if I’m gone, and how quickly would they move on and naturally begin to bring the focus totally back to their own situation? We all have only so much emotion we can give to any aspect of our lives and with this being such an emotional time many of us realize that even among the people who love us, it would be easy for us to become not much more than a footnote. For my part, assuming I buy into this way of thinking, I think I understand and accept that. Life will go on.

So here is how I’m coming around more and more to that acceptance, which I guess is also a way to mitigate my fears. Music. Playing music, listening to music, sharing music, writing music, thinking about music. I’ve always had a deep emotional attachment to music, more than most people I think. It soothes my soul, it excites me, it frames moments in my life. My love of music was nurtured very early on by my parents, for which I will always be more grateful than I can express. I wish I had told them that when they were alive.

There’s a line from a song by James Taylor that goes: “Me and my guitar, always in the same mood.” Always brings a smile to my face because regardless of how I’m feeling at that moment it is so, so true. And here’s a strange thing. I’ve found that lately I’m a lot less critical of my playing and singing than I was not all that long ago. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to play and sing as best I can, I just don’t get as frustrated as I used to. Maybe that’s because some part of my brain has come to terms with my mortality and the fact that in spite of my best efforts I too could become a statistic in the war against Covid-19. So I rejoice in every moment I play, no matter what comes out.

I know a few of my students feel the same way, some of my musician friends too, because they’ve told me as much. Doing remote lessons via Zoom has been a challenge for both my students and myself, I readily admit that. Between technological issues and the fact that I can’t play along with them due to latency (lag time) using remote video and audio platforms it has been very frustrating at times. But I do know that the students who have been doing the remote lessons with me have appreciated having new material to play and having something out of their daily routine (scheduled lessons) gives them something to look forward to. That is something that’s absolutely vital in this challenging and unprecedented time we are living in. Like most people, I often don’t even know which day it is without carefully thinking about it so anything that breaks the monotony of our current day-to-day existence has great value. About half my students opted to not do the remote lessons for various reasons and I hope they have continued to play and find joy in doing so.

Starting next week I will be welcoming students back to my studio. I made this decision after careful thought. There will be protocols in place including the use of hand sanitizer before and after lessons, wiping down of all surfaces that could be touched or handled before and after each lesson, plus more detailed cleaning at the end of each day I teach. Masks will be worn at all times; I will separate the chairs we use farther apart and will no longer tune each student’s guitar at the beginning of a lesson. Most of my students including most who were not taking remote lessons will be returning. A few have opted to discontinue lessons; my guess is that those few have not been playing much and I hope they will decide to return sometime in the future. But I do have three new students starting in the next two weeks, which is great. A few have opted to continue remote lessons for various reasons.

I’ve been doing something I call my Sunday Morning Live Coffee Music Sessions on Facebook Live for the last six weeks. This was another major technological challenge and it took me a few weeks to get a reasonable decent sound, fidelity-wise. I’ve learned a lot doing it – starting with the simple fact that no matter how fancy your own equipment may be, you are still at the mercy of the sound reproduction values imposed by Facebook. This coming Sunday I will be doing it from the back deck of the Daily Brew Café, my favorite place to play, continuing my string of eight years performing there. I’m really psyched for this and if you’re inclined to check it out, go to my Cape Cod Acoustics Facebook page at 11 a.m. this coming Sunday, or better yet if you’re in the area, order some food and drink and stop by. The sessions are always recorded for viewing later, too. Although restaurants are still closed in Massachusetts for anything other than take-out, the idea is to offer some music while people are waiting to pick up their orders. As always, I am very grateful to owner Kathy Hickey for giving me this chance to perform live even if the playing is only for a few people at a time. Hopefully, in a few weeks our governor will allow restaurants to reopen (with social distancing protocols of course) but in the meantime I’ll continue to do my live sessions on Facebook Live every Sunday, whether at the Brew or here in my studio. Who knows? If the reception is good about doing it at the Brew I may continue to do Facebook Live thing there even when the café reopens. Time will tell.

I was the subject of an article in our local newspapers (Falmouth, Bourne, Sandwich and Mashpee Enterprise) a week or so ago where I explained my live broadcasts and what I was hoping they would accomplish. Some very nice feedback and comments have come my way since the story came out, which is very gratifying. Basically what I said was that like so many musicians in these trying times, all I really want to do is play. As I said earlier, it soothes the soul. I’m more grateful than ever that guitar playing and singing are a big part of who I am. It really just comes down to this: making music takes our minds to some other place, a place of joy and constant amazement, something we need now more than ever.

Be safe, be well, hug those you love if you can, be strong and stay sane. “This too shall pass.”

It’s been a long time since I posted here. In that time, the world has changed forever. I wonder what I would have thought a year ago if I had a crystal ball and could see myself writing those words today?

Would I have wondered if the government had hatched some draconian plan to deprive us of our rights? With the present administration in the United States that might have seemed a very real possibility. Perhaps I might have meant the world had changed on a more personal level. Maybe I would have wondered if we had been invaded by aliens. Most likely I would have assumed world was at war.

And it is.

None of us will ever live our lives quite the same way we did before the virus. Even if an effective medicine is found to combat this insidious thing none of us will ever feel completely safe again. Our daily routines are being adjusted constantly and none of our solutions are 100% foolproof, only marginally satisfactory at best. Each day seems like the last but a bit scarier if we keep up with the news. And how can we avoid the news, and even should we? As Americans, we have always been proud of our heritage of freedom. Freedom of movement, freedom of our dreams and aspirations, and to a greater or lesser extent, freedom from fear. Now all those things and many more are being torn away and the big picture seems to indicate it’s unlikely our everyday lives and those freedoms will ever return to what they were before COVID-19.

For now, the issue is coping. Small and large projects in our homes that we used to conveniently ignore or put off for another day have become more compelling. But for all of us the most important part of coping is maintaining – or strengthening – relationships. Our families are our support system, our lifelines, and friends near and far help us all realize that we are not alone in this struggle even if we often feel lonely.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have creative interests are truly the lucky ones. After the Dark Ages when plagues and wars had ravaged Europe for a thousand years the Renaissance burst upon Western civilization and the arts flourished in ways that are still celebrated and cherished today. Breathtaking music and fine art burst upon the world, proof that humankind understood the healing nature of creativity and the need to express the beauty that is in the soul. Perhaps when today’s world has evolved past the fear and devastation we are presently experiencing there will be another Renaissance. But this time it will involve not just the creative arts but the fundamental aspects of humanity, in how we treat each other and how we view and care for our planet. That is one of my deepest hopes and wishes.

Of course as I’m sure you know, the most gratifying and rewarding way I know to help cope is playing my guitar. But here’s the interesting part. Quite suddenly I find that I’m not nearly as interested in playing songs that were frustrating before in hopes of improving them. Call that lazy if you want; I’ll probably get back to the hard stuff at some point in the not too distant future. No, now I just play things that allow me to totally immerse myself in musical moment. These things might be simple chord progressions with simple finger patterns, simple and pretty melodies, anything that allows me to really listen to my guitar. Sometimes I even just slowly strum a big-sounding chord like a first position CMaj7 or an E Major and allow the guitar to ring with the sound slowly fading away. The feel of the vibrations coming through the back of the guitar against my body is one of the most soothing feelings imaginable.

A friend of mine is in the medical field and the stories she’s shared with me about what she’s dealing with on an hourly basis are chilling. I truly believe that when this crisis finally subsides all the wonderful people who put their own health on the line to help others will be viewed as the true heroes they are. My daughter is one of them.

That friend has also told me playing her guitar is one of the only things she has to help release the stress she faces and must deal with. It gives me a great joy knowing I’ve helped her find that release. I’ll always be grateful for not only her noble work but that she let me know her guitar playing is making her life more bearable.

So…..play. Play often and without any value judgements about the quality of what’s coming out of your guitar. Just rejoice in the creation of music.

After my last post, which got a bit philosophical about the relative merits of competition in music I thought I’d lighten things up a bit. I love movies about making music, about musicians, and movies that have fantastic musical soundtracks that are integral to the film itself. Here are a few of my favorites and I highly recommend all of them. Some are well known and easy to find, some less so, but all are worth your time and effort. In no particular order…..

Some comedies first.

“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” This is a take-off on the Johnny Cash biopic but so much more. Sometimes crude and a bit juvenile, John C. Reilly is wonderful as a rise/fall/rise country star. The puns and inside jokes come a mile a minute, with riffs on country music of course but also Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Brian Wilson, punk rock and more. You’ll laugh your ass off, I promise.

“A Mighty Wind” A lesser known gem from director Christopher Guest, and like all his comedies it does not mock his subject but laughs at and with it gently. Folk music is the theme with riffs on all the greats of the 50s and 60s, including the great Eugene Levy as a Dylan-like character. I particularly enjoyed the details, including period correct instruments.

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Not a movie about music – it’s a comedy based on Homer’s The Odyssey (!) set in the Depression era South, but the music is absolutely sublime. And it’s really, really funny. I’ll bet I’ve watched it ten times.

“This is Spinal Tap” Directed by Rob Reiner, this “mockumentary” made me literally fall out of my chair laughing the first time I saw it and I still watch it when it happens to come on. About a dimwitted but loveable fictional heavy metal band, it has become part of the music culture with many quotable lines.

A few documentaries:

“Standing in the Shadows of Motown” I positively love this movie and own a copy of it. It is the story of the legendary Funk Brothers, the anonymous studio musicians at Motown who created the soundtrack of our lives if you’re a Baby Boomer like me. Fabulous players all, their story is told with interviews of the surviving members (a few of who have died since the movie was made), and interspersed with footage from a concert that was held with them plus some younger singers doing classic Motown hits. Check out Joan Osborne singing “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” and “Heatwave” – the pure joy she and the Funk Brothers exhibit will bring a tear to your eye. And the amazing Chaka Khan singing “What’s Going On” is an absolute masterpiece. I can’t recommend this one enough if (like me) you love classic Motown. And along with the great music, you will shake your head in amazement at the details – and wonder why the Funk Brothers never received the accolades they deserved.

“Good Ol’ Freda” This is a small movie but fascinating. It is recollections of Freda Kelly, who was the first president of the Beatles fan club in Liverpool and went on to become their office manager and secretary at Apple Records. She was also something of a mother to all of them and if you’re a Beatles nut like me you’ll find her stories wonderful.

“Searching for Sugarman” This small movie became a cult classic. It is the story of a minor league Mexican-American singer songwriter named Sixto Rodriguez who made two albums in the 1970s that quickly faded into oblivion. Except in one place: South Africa at the height or apartheid. There, his albums were known and loved by every young person. A film maker found out about this and in spite of the rumor that Sixto had died in a terrible accident, made it his business to see if Sixto was still alive, and what had become of him. After a long search he was found living a modest life in the U.S., totally unaware that he was a legend in South Africa. The film maker takes him to South Africa thirty years after his records were released and the pandemonium and adoration that followed are heartwarming. The movie won a number of independent film awards, and rightly so.

“The Other One” This is a film about Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. If you’re a Dead Head you should see it. Lots of interesting stories and some great music.

“20 Feet from Stardom” The story of the fantastic but unheralded women who backed up bands like the Rolling Stones. It is a story of bias, perseverance, and pure musical talent that only now is being recognized.

“Living in the Material World” A quite long and detailed doc about the “quiet Beatle” George Harrison. It’s taken a while, but George has finally come to be recognized as an equal to the “other” songwriters in the group. George’s deep religious beliefs and sincerity come through, along with some fantastic singing and playing. You’ll learn of the deep respect many other musicians, both old and much younger have for this departed genius.

“Miss Sharon Jones” A modern soul powerhouse, also sadly gone, she almost single-handedly with her band the Daptones revived the interest in and performance of classic (but new) soul music.

“Gimme Shelter” Of all the movies about the Rolling Stones, this one captures the pure rock and roll core and mystique of the band. Filmed before, during and after the tragic and seminal Altamont Rock Festival, I truly believe that decades and generations from now when people want to know what pure rock music was all about, this will be one of their references.

“Bob Dylan – Don’t Look Back” Another period piece that defines (as much as that’s possible) what Dylan meant and his influence in his early years. There are quite a few other docs about him focusing on his various stages of withdrawal and reemergence in the music scene but this one sets the stage for the legend.

“Beware of Mr. Baker” In the history of rock music there have been few characters as gifted, complex and sometimes despicable as drummer Ginger Baker. He never accepted the term “rock drummer” and was quite disdainful of anyone who insisted on labelling him as one; he always viewed himself as a jazz drummer. But there is no question that his drumming in the rock idiom was some of the most powerful and revolutionary ever made.

“The Last Waltz” Some call this the greatest concert film ever made and who am I to disagree? Interestingly, except for Robbie Robertson who was the one who insisted on the breakup of The Band, the other players in this greatest of all “Americana” bands hated the movie. But the performances by guests from Joni Mitchell to Eric Clapton to Neal Diamond (???? Wha?????) are great. My favorite is the blues powerhouse Muddy Waters, whose performance of his classic Mannish Boy is so powerful the other musicians on stage (including Clapton) are almost blown into background scenery. This is another one that I can’t resist watching again and again.

Feature films:

There are so many of these that I can’t come close to listing them all but here are a few of my favorites.

“A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help” Nothing more can be said about these two classics that feature dozens of the Beatles best songs. Both are little dated and hokey but especially “Hard Day’s Night” captures what Beatlemania was all about. It was filmed on only about 60 days on a budget of only $150,000 in 1964. This was because the record executives were convinced that the Beatles phenomenon would quickly fade away and they wanted to cash in while they could! “Help” is pretty silly and very dated but the music? Oh, the music. There never will be anything that comes close.

“Crazy Heart” Jeff Bridges plays a down in his luck former country star and he absolutely nails what it is to be on the road playing small bars and the price of fame. I love this movie so much. Not easy to find but see it if you can. And marvel at the great music and playing, and the fact that Bridges sang all the songs of his character.

“Love & Mercy” This recent fictional accounting of the life of genius Brian Wilson may or may not be totally accurate but the acting is superb and the music is wonderful. Apparently Brian didn’t hate it, so it must be OK!

And there are so many more movies related to music I could mention. “Verlon Thompson: Sweet Dreams Do Come True”; “The Wrecking Crew”; “That Thing You Do”; “Almost Famous”; “Buena Vista Social Club”; Ken Burns “Country Music” series; “Echo in the Canyon”; “Muscle Shoals”; “Inside Llewyn Davis”….. Get inspired to pick up your guitar. Start watching!

Yet another interesting thread going on one of the guitar forums, this one regarding the reality and relative merits of music viewed as competition. The person who started the thread cited a story about Bach being challenged to some sort of musical contest and when his competitor heard Bach rehearsing his piece opted to slink out of town, knowing he could never compete with the master. People had lots of opinions on the thread about just what is competition between musicians. Is it purely a function of ability or “chops?” When musicians are judged by their peers or the general public is it even possible to say who’s the best, whatever that means?

On another thread in that same forum someone posed the question: Who is the greatest living acoustic guitarist? And of course there are many replies.

Competition is part of our genetic makeup. The caveman who could bring down an animal before some other caveman was going to eat that night. And then somewhere along the line people realized that on some level competition (hopefully, not the life and death kind) could actually be…..fun. Taken to its modern extreme, that’s where we are today in just about any human activity you can name. Talent judging reality shows are hugely popular on television. So it’s just fine to judge musicians against each other and attach labels like “best” to some of them. Or is it?

Back when I started playing the guitar and began listening to and seeing many experienced players I certainly was one of those who would compare players and confidently conclude that he or she was better than someone else doing the same thing. The certainty of youth was to blame of course, plus the need to be viewed as having some higher sense of knowledge and taste. As the years passed I became more and more certain of my opinions and on some level I was passing judgement based on many facets of the competitive urge I thought I saw in those players – and in myself. Without being able to verbalize or even recognize it I just assumed that one thing that made a player great was his or her need to be better than their peers. Boy, was I wrong about that.

What started to change my mind about the relative merits of competing with other musicians became something more personal. Slowly but surely I began to realize that I never was going to be as accomplished as some of my heroes. That may sound logical and a little bit naïve but anyone who’s serious about playing a musical instrument has to get to that place if they are going to progress. In any case, it’s a bitter pill to swallow for anyone and I’ve known some very experienced guitarists who outright quit playing when that realization took hold. It saddens me to think about players I’ve known who could have taken their playing in whatever direction they wanted but took the easy way out with vague excuses like, nah, I don’t play anymore, it just doesn’t turn me on like it used to.

Most of us don’t quit though and that brings me back to the competition thing. Every year there are dozens of big guitar, fiddle and banjo contests around the country. Back when I played and toured with fiddler Marie Rhines we took part in quite a few, most of which Marie won. At the time I thought it was pretty cool. Players who win the big contests at places like the National Championship contests in Winfield, Kansas and Weiser, Idaho are venerated by fellow players. This is all well and good and there is no question that these players are world-class, in a league that few of us will ever enter. The danger I think comes from believing that those winners have some God-given super powers, and that if I practice my ass off perhaps He will grant me those powers too. And how will I test those powers? By comparing myself to and competing with my fellow musicians, of course!

That competition takes many forms for the passionate but misguided guitar player. Sometimes you can see it when a guitarist fires out his fanciest licks when he knows there is another guitarist listening. A player who speaks arrogantly to other players, or orders them around in a group setting is just trying to win some competition that the others may not even know they are in! A guitarist who is playing with others for the first time and has no patience with lesser players and will never stop to explain what he is playing or why he played it at that moment in time. To his way of thinking, if he did take the time those other players might become his equal and that is definitely not what he wants. He wants to win.

You could say these are basic ego issues, and you’d be right. Insecurity plays in the equation too. If you boil those two problems down, how does a misguided player deal with the situation? By viewing everything he plays as a competition.

But here’s the kicker. Without exception, every truly great guitarist I’ve ever met, people like the jazz legend Pat Martino and blues guitar master Duke Robillard are the nicest, most modest and sincere people you’d ever want to meet. From everything I’ve seen online, my hero the British jazzer Martin Taylor is the same way. A good friend of mine who plays mandolin related a wonderful story to me recently about having a long and stimulating conversation with mandolin great David Grisman. All these players have entered the realm of knowing they are not competing with ANYONE. On the other hand, in my experience, the most insufferable guitarists I’ve met were ones who were pretty good, even excellent, but were obviously threatened by any other guitarist they may come into contact with. That threat did not exist but that didn’t stop them from acting like it did. After all these years of playing I can pretty much pick those guys out instantly and I avoid them whenever possible.

I’m not naïve enough to think anything is going to change in the world of competitive guitar playing. I just don’t choose to be part of that world. The only competition I allow myself is competition WITH myself, and even that gets tiresome after a while.

The player who allows himself to fail once in a while and doesn’t let it bother him too much has a much better chance at success than one who assumes a listener (whether that listener is a guitarist or not) takes some sort of pleasure or gets satisfaction in witnessing those small failures.

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying I put very little stock in guitar competition in any way and on any level. To me anyway, it’s just not important. And really, it doesn’t prove very much.

A hot topic on the guitar forums from time to time is the validity of a guitar “opening up” after some amount of playing time. This is the idea that a brand-new guitar needs to vibrate for a while to reveal its voice. I fall in the camp that believes this is true, although you can find plenty of players who put no faith in it whatsoever, i.e., what you hear is what you get.

I’ve experienced this opening-up with lots of guitars and right now I’m finding that my relatively new Martin M-36 is starting to come into its own. Sustain, depth of sound, resonance, clarity and the oh so Martin overtones are developing nicely. Plus, I’ve always loved the comfortable size of this model, once known as the 0000 series. So for the last few weeks my equally wonderful Martin Custom Shop D-35 Seth Avett model has been a little lonely but I’ll be picking that one up again before long. It’s just too nice to neglect.

Opening up is a phenomenon that occurs with premium guitars, which are all solid wood and less so in inexpensive instruments that have laminate backs and sides. The variables that encourage the opening up are complex but pretty easy to understand. A brand-new guitar has never vibrated much so things like glue and finish haven’t loosened up (for lack of better description) to their maximum. So sometimes it’s difficult to get a clear idea what a guitar will sound like when auditioning it at a music store. But there is a trick to that; more below.

This is why some true vintage guitars cost many thousands of dollars. After 60, 70, 80 or more years of playing a premium guitar reaches its maximum potential sound-wise. That, combined with the natural aging of the wood, which is often of a grade that is no longer available makes the magic that acoustic guitarists dream about. When trying to explain the panache of vintage guitars to students who have done some research in preparation of buying a premium instrument I often use the wine analogy. The subtle but very real attributes of a legendary variety combined with age are very important and worth the money to the true wine lover. Can the average person taste the difference between a 1960s vintage Chateau Lafite Rothschild and a $10 bottle of some California cabernet? Probably, to some degree anyway. But is that Chateau Lafite worth 100 times more? Only the wine enthusiast can decide.

Is a fully opened-up 1937 Martin Herringbone D-28 worth a hundred times more than a stock D-28 made this year? If your pockets are very deep and you are obsessed with sound, maybe. There aren’t a whole lot of those folks out there so I can’t comment on that. I do know after playing a few pre-war Martin D-28’s and D-18’s there is certainly something very special about some (but not all!) of them. I confess that if I ever won Power Ball I’d be making some trips around the country to try a few more out!

So what can you expect from a premium guitar that’s brand new and when – and how much – can you expect it to open up? A really good guitar will sound really good right from the get-go. For quite a while some makers like Dana Bourgeois have been speeding up the opening-up process by “baking” the wood used for the tops of guitars and at least in the case of Dana’s instruments the results are quite extraordinary. Known as “torrification,” the process slowly dries out the wood and what you get it is the sound of a guitar that is quite old and broken-in. I’ve played a few other guitars with tops that have been “baked” and the results were less dramatic than with Dana’s. I briefly owned both a Martin and an Eastman that had torrified tops and neither sounded very good, brittle and almost raspy to my ear. Many years ago one of the manufacturers made a big thing of advertising their guitars were subjected to some weeks or months of sitting on stands in a big room with music blasting at them from big speakers. They claimed to be a great way to open up a guitar using musical sound waves. I have no idea about the validity of this claim and that process has faded into the archives of guitar history.

I believe that playing a guitar often and for long periods of time when it’s brand new is best way to hasten the opening up process. But here are some variables that will affect how long that process takes.

Humidity, or lack of humidity affects the sound of both new and older guitars (another source of debate on the guitar forums but I stand by my opinion of that!). If a guitar lives in a very humid climate it is difficult if not impossible to get an accurate idea of how good it really can sound. That’s simply because the wood absorbs the humidity and cannot vibrate to its full potential. If you live in such a place, try using a room dehumidifier to give the guitar a chance to dry out. You’ll like what you hear.

If you do as I suggest and play a new guitar often and for long sessions it makes sense to invest in a quite a few sets of guitar strings and change the strings fairly frequently. This will give a more accurate result compared to using old, dead, lifeless strings. One side note here, though. Some people LIKE the sound of old strings, especially Gibson owners who feel the “woody” sound of guitars like the classic J-45 when strummed is heavenly with broken in strings and exactly what guitars are supposed to sound like. I don’t happen to agree, I love the sound of fresh strings and I change my strings often. You’ll have to decide what type of sound you prefer but I think we can all agree that really old, grungy strings do nothing for the sound of a premium guitar.

Some people opt for a device called Tone Rite that is secured to the top a guitar for a few days or longer. It vibrates with a low hum and this is thought to loosen up the glue and finish resulting in a more “open” sound. I had one a while ago and used it on a brand-new Martin OM-28. I left it running for about four days and yes, there was a subtle difference in the tone but nothing particularly remarkable. Some people claim astounding results however. If you do decide to try one of these things, be sure to either suspend your guitar while it’s being used or at least leave it on a guitar stand with as few contact points as possible to encourage maximum vibration. Leaving your guitar in its case while using a Tone Rite will not yield very much if any difference in sound as the case absorbs most of the vibration.

Last week I had another wonderful visit with internationally renowned luthier Steve Connor, who lives only a few miles from me. It’s always an amazing treat to spend time with Steve and see his latest breathtakingly gorgeous creations (he makes primarily classical guitars) and talk guitar geek stuff with him. I brought my D-35 over for him to see and he was very complimentary of its sound and construction. At one point he began tapping on the bridge and said, yeah, that’s about a G. I asked what he meant and he went on to explain the process of “tap tuning,” which string instrument makers have used for centuries to predict what an instrument will sound like before it is completed. All wood vibrates at a certain frequency and knowing that certain frequencies will be more apt to be bass or treble focused lets the builder modify things like braces to accentuate or diminish those tendencies. And checking with Steve’s Peterson tuner app, he was dead-on. I love the sound of that guitar and the next time I’m in a guitar shop I will definitely use this tap method to judge how a brand-new guitar will sound when it opens up!

So, how long will opening up take? Sorry but there is no absolute answer to that. In my extensive experience with new Martins I can say that it may be anywhere from a couple months to a year, taking into account the variables above.

But, sad to say, I may have given up on some guitars too soon. I can’t help but wonder if a few of those Martins I sold because I didn’t care for the sound now are the Voices of the Angels!

I’ve never pretended to be a great singer even though I was a voice major when I studied music in college. That was purely a function of having to declare a “major instrument” to study music and at that time at little Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) in Pennsylvania the guitar was considered about as legitimate as a kazoo. But I could carry a tune, took voice lessons and was even selected to be a part of the elite choral group in the music department. But I never thought I was all that good, and I probably wasn’t.

I do remember a few things from those voice lessons though and lately I’ve been trying to put them into practice to at least get back to the place I was 20 or so years ago when I sang with groups and gigged and practiced regularly. The unfortunate truth is that for the last 20 years while teaching I’ve been neglecting the techniques I learned way-back-when and it shows. I do have a bit of an excuse, though not a very good one: when recording lessons for my students to practice I unconsciously began singing softer and in a more constricted fashion so my voice didn’t overwhelm the guitar, which of course was what I wanted my students to hear most on the recordings.

That doesn’t mean I had to abandon what I knew to be correct singing technique. It’s certainly possible to sing softly and also sing well but that comes down more than anything else to breath control, NOT constricting the throat – and that’s what I was doing. For a long, long time. And I paid the price.

Breath control does not come from the throat, it comes from the lungs and especially from the gut. In order to exercise control from those regions I should be standing up when I sing and my posture should be relaxed but straight, not slumped over. Any good singer will tell you that, trained or untrained. But while I’m teaching and demonstrating guitar method that is just not practical. I don’t want to be standing while my student is sitting….that looks awkward and bit silly and possibly pompous, I think. And I cannot expect my students to stand with me and play. Although I encourage them to use a strap even when sitting and playing, 99% of them would find it very difficult to stand and play. If I could get them to do that when they are practicing at home perhaps they would accept it at lessons but my guess is that is not going to happen. So there is my dilemma as it relates to correct breathing/singing technique.

So for the last few months I’ve been trying to be aware of my breathing at all times when I sing. Little things that I remember from voice lessons, like taking a breath the moment before I sing a phrase and varying the depth of that breath to be sure I won’t be struggling at the end of the phrase. Sitting up as straight as possible. The natural tendency with every guitarist whether sitting or standing is to slump forward because the depth of the guitar makes it very difficult to see the front of the neck if you don’t slump. But slumping is very bad in terms of keeping a straight line for the air to escape in a controlled fashion from your lungs and slumping while sitting is even worse.

Opening the mouth wide is crucial too and this is definitely something I have to remind myself to do. Part of my unconscious attempt to sing softly over the last 20 years while teaching has involved keeping my mouth much more closed than it should be. I’m trying to remedy that but it’s hard to do. A mouth that is open wide, regardless if you’re singing softly or loud is the “open gate” for the breath to escape. This also helps in keeping the throat relaxed.Then there is the hurdle of pitch. No matter the overall quality of our singing, if you sing “in tune” you will sound much, much better than if you are flat or sharp. There are many exercises to help with this but two things that have worked for me in the past and I’m trying to re-establish are practicing singing while picking out the melody to a song; this allows me to focus purely on the notes I should be singing pitch-wise rather than trying to find the melody buried in chords. The other thing – and this is crucial where harder passages in a song is concerned – is to kind of “sing” that note in your head a moment before you go for it. Just like when playing a guitar solo while improvising, if you have an idea what the next note will sound like BEFORE you attempt it, you will find far more success. I think the vast majority of singers who are not professionals just kind of listen to what’s coming out of their mouths rather than having an idea what it will sound like before they sing it. Then, to a greater or lesser degree they adjust their tonality as needed. If a singer is having a rough time, you can hear this happening.

Knowing your real range rather than just your comfort zone is an essential part of the process. Those darn high notes are tough for everyone but some singers seem to hit them with ease; this is because they are employing the techniques I mentioned above, especially breathing deeply and remaining relaxed. Most of us can hit notes that feel out of our range if we work on it and you know what? Believe it or not, most people sound best in the upper part of their singing range. When I listen to recordings of myself singing I know this to be true. The trick is to not make it sound like you’re straining. Remember to breath! If you listen to a recording of yourself in your comfort zone I think you’ll be surprised to hear that everything you’re singing sounds too low, in terms of overall vocal quality otherwise known as timbre. Forcing yourself to stay relaxed might seem to be an absurd concept but it is essential for good singing but if you’re relaxed those high notes will come, with time.

But what about that delicate subject, our age? There is no doubt that even the best singers lose some of their range as they get older. I’ve heard reports of some bands like the Eagles, known for their crystalline high harmonies have recently begun playing some of their songs in slightly lower keys, and I know for certain that some individual singers like Bonnie Raitt are doing that. But that’s just fine! Better to learn a song in a more comfortable key than the original version and have it be more comfortable to sing than the key that was used by someone much younger with greater range. I’ve been doing this with quite a few songs lately and I like the results, although in some cases I can’t exactly replicate the chord inversions on the guitar that were found in the original. So it goes.

I’m determined to keep working on my singing, no matter what. Because I know that when everything works as it should it is oh so gratifying to know you nailed a song, both in playing and singing.

To expand a bit on the previous post: OK, I admit it. I am obsessed with sound. Or more accurately, the quality of sound. There is a bit of irony here I think because with my hearing not what it once was (due in no small part to electric guitar amplifiers turned up WAY too high) I have focused more and more on sound reinforcement rather than the pure sound of an unamplified acoustic guitar. Put more simply, it’s become more difficult for me to recognize the very subtle qualities of one good quality acoustic guitar compared to another. I still know a good one when I hear it, thank goodness, but with this diminishing of my hearing range those “wow” moments I used to experience on the first strum of an incredible guitar have become fewer and fewer.

Probably because I have three fantastic sounding Martins, M-36, Custom Shop D-35 Seth Avett and Custom Shop Sinker D-18 I have become less and less affected by the affliction we guitarists call GAS: Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. That is the never-ending search of the perfect guitar that probably doesn’t exist. All three of those Martins have distinct and fabulous voices and they are all quite different. Each suits an aspect of my playing style very well but in reality any one of them could cover my bases just fine. All are equipped with passive pick-ups, K&K in the two dreadnoughts and Dazzo in the M-36. So they all sound terrific either acoustically or amplified. But the final link in the amplification chain is where I’ve really been obsessing for the last couple of years: the amplifier.

I think in the last five years or so I’ve tried most of the higher end amps and quite a few lesser ones. Most had strong points and weak points, whether in design or sound. About the only brand that I just do not like is Fishman. To my ear, all their amps have a very artificial and unnatural sound. I know they are very popular however and many guitarists like them just fine. In the higher end makes that I’ve owned such as AER, Schertler, Henrickson and a couple others I’ve found that while the bass end is BIG and deep, the treble end – which is feel is so important in performance – is lacking. I’ve tried to mitigate that through the use of a LR Baggs Align Series Equalizer and that works reasonably well but that means one more piece of equipment to worry about and bring to gigs. Simplicity is almost as important as sound to me; the fewer pieces of gear I have to carry to a gig, the better.

In that regard, it looks like I will be playing at least a couple of gigs at a really nice facility in Boca Raton, Florida when we head down there in a month or so. The dilemma is space. My Tacoma truck has a pretty big back seat but considering we are driving down (and need colder weather clothes for a while), going on a cruise and then staying in a couple places for an extended period of time the packing challenge must be dealt with. I also like to fish, so those toys have to come along. My music gear will consist of my M-36 in a gig bag, my Bose S1 Pro amp, a (collapsed) mic and IPad stand, and a gear bag with various devices, cords and spare parts. My wife and I each will have a large suitcase plus a smaller bag or two. You can see what I’m up against!

But getting back to sound. That Bose S1 is a pretty good sounding amp considering its size and with three inputs I can cover all my amplification needs. However, compared to my primary amp, an ACUS OneForStrings 8 it sounds pretty bland. Not bad, just not rich and sonorous like the ACUS. But that one, while still small enough to be manageable around here is just too big to take on the trip. I am hoping that these gigs at the very fancy place I think I’ll be playing will lead to others, hopefully next year. I would dearly love to get enough work down in Florida in the winter to justify the expense of being there. So you see why I’m so concerned with sound quality in this particular instance.

Am I done buying sound reinforcement gear? Probably not. Many of the big and smaller players in the music world are cranking out new and better amplifiers and devices to improve the sound of an amplified acoustic guitar. I read with great interest my monthly copy of Music Trades magazine, the main publication of the music manufacturing industry. Right now the huge NAMM show is going on in Anaheim, the one I attended last year and I’m sure many companies will be introducing fantastic gear. I couldn’t justify the expense of going to the show this year but I anxiously await reports.

Another piece of equipment that has entered my musical life is an amazing little recording device call the Spire Studio. It is a stand-alone recorder that is paired with a smart phone or tablet (I use my IPad) and some amazing recordings can be done. Among the many great features the Spire has are a built-in, high-quality condenser mic (or inputs with phantom power for other mics, which is what I do), and a built-in compressor/limiter that during a brief “sound check” phase before recording self-adjusts to eliminate distortion even when strumming pretty hard. Eight tracks are available for over-dubs and there are two channels. During the mixing phase you can bring up a track (such as a lead guitar break) and also adds effects such as reverb if needed or wanted. I have finally stopped using CD recording with my students and gone completely to using this device. I record what the student will be practicing and then email them a sound file, which they can then open and save to whatever sound programs they have (such as Itunes) on their phone, tablet or computer.

Almost all my students seem to love this convenient way to get recordings of what they will be practicing. The sound quality is superb and no more worries about CDs that only work for a few songs (or not at all), scratching or losing the CD, and funky things like sound files on supposedly “new” CDs – woo boy, I could tell you stories about that (!!). One or two students have resisted a bit as they are older and somewhat intimidated by the technology knowledge required but if I carefully and patiently explain how the process will work I’m sure they will be fine with it in a short amount of time. And I’d dead certain they will appreciate the quality of the recordings compared to the CDs. Younger students who have grown up with rapidly changing technological advances have no problems whatsoever.

Another cool aspect of the Spire. If you send files to a person who also has the Spire recorder, they can add tracks and send it back to you! I’ve been doing just that with one of my advanced students and we are having a ball. His playing has also improved as he recognizes the importance of getting the “little things” right in his playing….a recorder doesn’t lie or cover up mistakes!

So as time passes and I learn more and more ways to optimize both sound and the use devices that help with it I will let you know. It’s all very exciting!

Way, way overdue checking in here so here goes. Lots of tidbits, nothing of major importance but I promise to resist the temptation to do a yada yada Year in Review. Well, mostly.

I won’t be going to the big NAMM show in Anaheim in January as I did last year. Basically, I need to rethink and re-evaluate the merits of ramping up my online sales. There is more competition than ever as we all know but for me there is also the issue of a robust website that is focused primarily on sales. That means hiring a designer who is savvy with incorporating the best (i.e., easiest) point-of-sale structure. These days, it’s all about ease of purchase; I certainly feel that way when I’m buying something online. Also, sexy graphics, easily updated content, effective optimization to get Google’s attention, and many other details. And all that costs money. This is why I don’t think the expense of going to the NAMM show makes sense right now.

However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been lax about paying attention to what’s going on in the music world as it relates to acoustic guitar. Right now I have three very fine Martins (D-35 Seth Avett, M-36, Custom Shop Sinker D-18, all with pick-ups) and the terrible affliction of Guitar Acquisition Syndrome has been dormant for quite a while. It has been replaced with a fanatical search for “tone.” The task is pretty easy to define: getting as close to a natural sound as possible from those fine guitars when they’re plugged in. I know darn well that the only real way to do this is with a good microphone but with the varied gigs I play that is just not practical. So I’ve been focusing on the other components: Pick-up, pre-amp and amplifier. Yikes.

After reading glowing reports about a relatively new company making a contact-type passive pick-up called Dazzo I decided to try one (or more accurately, two contacts) in my M-36. Unfortunately, when the pick-ups arrived they were NOT soldered to an end jack. ???? I really don’t know why they choose not to do this and I think it is a major deficiency because someone (you, or a guitar tech) has to make the connection – once you also buy the jack! A guy I use pretty regularly had fits trying to get the tiny, tiny wires soldered without shorting, making the pick-up nonfunctional. I ended up sending it back to the maker for him to solder but in the process of removing the glued on contacts one of them was damaged and I had to buy another one. Aarrggh. Long story short: the Dazzo sounds good in my M-36 through my ACUS OneForStrings8 amp (with a RedEye pre-amp between) but not all that much better than my old favorite contact pick-up, K&K Pure Mini. So I doubt I’ll buy another considering the price – twice as much as the K&K – and the issue of connecting the jack.

I also bought a Schatten Design HFN that mounts on the inside below the saddle. I haven’t tried that one yet so I can’t confirm or deny the good reports. Also, I don’t want to remove one of the pick-ups in my guitars (or buy another guitar to put it in!).

I wrestled with the idea of buying a new amp, the Schertler Roy model. I do like my ACUS but something in my brain kept telling me there was a better sound out there. Fortunately for my credit card balance I ended up resisting that idea, based on the cost - $2000+ - and its weight, which is 48 pounds. It does have all the bells and whistles though and is supposed to sound amazing. Very tempting.

I also bought an interesting pre-amp called the Tone Dexter, which is quite revolutionary in that you “train” it for a few minutes as it listens to you play with a good mic plugged in and also your onboard pick-up. It then blends the sound of the mic and the pick-up for supposedly the most natural sound available short of using just a mic. But….I just didn’t care for the sound. To my ear anyway it doesn’t sound any better than my old tried and true K&K. A bit more complex perhaps, but no more “natural.” So it will be going back to Sweetwater on Monday. $399 is a lot to spend of a device that may not get much use.

So as you can see, “chasing tone” is my latest obsession. I hope I’ll find what I’m looking for without too much more expense. I can hear the tone I want in my brain, I just haven’t found it yet. Enough of this equipment geeky stuff.

About a month ago my son Matt married his sweetheart Alli in Dallas where they live. It was truly a magical and wonderful event in every way. Matt and Alli were adamant about having live music and oh my goodness, what a band they hired. Three horns, keys, GREAT guitar player, GREAT bass player, drums and two amazing singers, a man and a woman. The band is very popular in Dallas, and being present or former students in the nationally known jazz program at North Texas University you could say they absolutely had the place on fire. They played everything from classic Motown and soul to recent tunes by people like Adele and John Legend. They played from 7:30 until midnight with only two short breaks and almost no time between songs. The dance floor was jammed the entire time. It was yet another example of the incredible two-way energy that a great band can bring to an event, something no DJ can ever achieve. I’ll never forget them. Or one of the happiest nights of my life.

Still playing at the Daily Brew pretty much every Sunday morning and I still love every minute and do NOT take it for granted. I know how very, very fortunate I am to have this long-running gig at a truly special place. There was also a very nice article about me in the local paper, which was much appreciated. So things are good, playing-wise.

And on a much more personal note, a couple days ago we were having Christmas dinner at my son-in-law’s mother’s house in Connecticut. One of the toddlers that was there was acting up so I grabbed my guitar and began playing “Rudolph”, “Frosty” and any other kid-type Christmas snog I could think of. The little one immediately calmed down and stood by me in awe. It was just another example of the effect music has on children, even very young and cranky ones! I see it often at the Daily Brew and it always brings a smile to my face. And I know the parents appreciate it.

So, instead of looking back at the year – and a great year it was for me, in spite of the depressing national news – I think it’s best if I just wish one and all a peaceful, joyful and music-filled 2020. Just pick up your guitar and start playing. You’ll feel good, for sure.

Peace & good music,Gene(who promises to get back to posting more often!)

Had a very pleasant surprise this morning when I checked one of the guitar forums I look at regularly. There was a private message from a member thanking me for a tip I had given him a few months ago in a thread about how to conquer a common but difficult barre chord. He had applied my tip and for the first time in 40 years of playing was finally making progress with that annoying chord. Hooray!

Generally speaking, guitar forums are good places for all kinds of information about guitars and playing. Experience with a particular model of guitar, information about tweaks to guitars and sound systems that make the playing experience feel better and sound better, mini reviews of shows attended or albums and artists discovered and much more. I’ve discovered plenty of artists who I might not have otherwise heard thanks to the forums. It’s also good to hear some opinions of various guitars before taking the plunge on a big purchase.

But like all online forums no matter the area of interest, you have to take everything you read with a few grains of salt. In other words, you have to make a guess about the person writing an entry and what their motivation might be. It all comes back to the anonymity of most internet forums. When a person is hiding behind a screen name they sometimes feel they can post pretty much whatever they want and sometimes comments can contain false information or even be downright nasty. On fishing forums I visit this is especially true so I never post anything on those sites because it kind of feels like I’m putting a big target on my back.

For the most part, guitar forums are much more benign and friendly. Yes, you get certain members who want the world to know they are experts on the minutia of all things guitar related. What their posts usually do – and are often unintentionally funny to read – is bring out other self-styled experts and arguments ensue. Fortunately, the forums I look at the most (The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum and The Acoustic Guitar Forum) are vigorously moderated and nastiness is not tolerated.

Then there is the issue of repeated subjects in threads. Sometimes that’s OK, such as the frequent ones about experiences travelling on airlines with guitars where rules may change and good tips can often be found. But others are tedious. How many times do we need to debate the relative merits of bone vs. plastic saddles, nuts and bridge pins? Ultimately, it must be remembered that almost all opinions are based on anecdotal experience and not cold, hard fact. And geez, I sometimes think people don’t know how a “search” button works!

There is no question that some members of the guitar forums are truly experts in things like guitar construction, electronics, professional experiences and the retail world. This is the real value of those forums. Pre-internet you had to read a lot, visit music stores or be fortunate enough to know professionals in those fields to glean relevant information. Now, between the forums and YouTube you can find good information on just about anything guitar-related with a few clicks. In fact, there can be almost too much information and some of it is conflicting. In subjects such as guitar repair I still think it makes sense to let a true expert do what needs to be done in all but the simplest repairs rather than take the advice you find on a forum or try to replicate a repair you see on YouTube.

In the best cases you can develop life-long friendships with other guitarists who frequent the forums. You can also learn about gatherings of guitarists in your area where you can have some fun playing with others, gatherings that you would have no knowledge about without the forums. I have become friendly with a few players who live far from me but I hope someday to meet and play with. I have the advantage of living in a very well-known and popular tourist destination so once or twice I’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from the forums when they come to Cape Cod on vacation.

Buying and selling guitars on the forums is a huge subject, one that I wrote about a while back but probably merits a revisit in the near future. In short, you have to have a good degree of trust. The forums I mentioned have a stated policy of a 48-hour try-out period before the sale is final but ultimately, short of a protracted battle on Pay Pal or via your credit card company, there is no way to get your money back if a guitar turns out to be less than what was presented on a guitar forum and the seller refuses to refund your money. I’ve only been burned once on a buy in the 15 or so years I’ve been buying and selling on the forums but that was kind of my own fault. The buyer wanted USPS money orders for the guitar (supposedly he didn’t have or like a Pay Pal account and I wasn’t savvy enough to pay with a credit card), which was just like sending cash. The guitar in question was in much, much worse condition than his pictures or description indicated and he refused to take it back and refund my money. I called him out on the forum but the damage was done. I took a $500 hit on that guitar when I sold it a year or so later. Lesson learned. Bottom line here is you must have as much knowledge as you can about a particular model you’re considering and LOTS of communication with the seller, even phone calls to “feel him out” are absolutely essential. Go with your gut. If something just doesn’t feel right, walk away.

But overall the buying and selling experiences have been very positive for me. In some cases I’ve scored guitars at considerable savings, too. Just….do your homework!!!

The guy who emailed me today sounds like a great person who’s passionate about his playing. He made a comment that my students are lucky to have me as their teacher. Even an old dog likes to have his head scratched once in a while.

Figured I’d better check in here so my regular readers don’t think I was devoured by a bear on my recent fishing trip to Wyoming. I wasn’t. Just one of the many reasons I fully intend to return to that spectacular part of our wonderful country next September. I think it is kind of sad that many people don’t travel to see the incredible beauty and variety of the United States. There is no better way to broaden your perspective. Just do it! OK, guitar stuff…

In the last couple of weeks I sold two absolutely amazing guitars to students of mine, a recent Martin 00-18 and a Martin Custom Shop OM. Both students deserved an upgrade from their present instruments and to say they are thrilled would be an understatement. And here’s the best part: I absolutely believe that owning a fine guitar after spending time with an average one can only make you a better player. It’s kind of a circular thing. You buy a new and great guitar, which you just can’t put down. So you’re playing more, which makes you a better player. As your skills increase you appreciate that fine instrument even more. So you play more. And the circle keeps moving. I love that!

In about a week a dear friend who lives in Pennsylvania is coming for a visit and I am really looking forward to it. He is a recreational mandolin player and likes nothing better than to noodle along as I play pretty much any song. He is not a slick player but his absolute joy when he plays is infectious. He is also legally blind and has only marginal eyesight, seeing only shadows. But never once in the fifty-plus years I’ve known him have I heard him complain. He truly takes every day as a gift and will not let his handicap slow him down any more than is absolutely has to. I also owe him a big debt of gratitude as his encouragement about 20 years ago gave me the kick in the ass I needed at that time to keep playing. I love him like a brother and I know I’ll have sore fingers from playing by the time he leaves.

I’ll be playing a wedding ceremony and reception this coming weekend. Recently I bought a domain name that I’m going to use for a new website I’ll be building over the next couple of months for people looking for wedding music on Cape Cod. While I really like playing wedding ceremonies and cocktail hours in many respects it can also be a bit of a PIA if you are unlucky enough to have to deal with a classic Bride From Hell. Fortunately that has only happened to me a couple times in 50-plus weddings I’ve played in last ten years or so. The key to making everything run smoothly is to explain as gently as possible that very few if any people at the ceremony will take much notice of the music, as long as it is performed in a tasteful manner and the musician is good at taking cues. In other words, it’s not a concert; the function of the music is to add to the joyful ambiance of the event. And little things like the fact that I am just one guy with a guitar and not a full band need to be understood when “special” songs are requested. In my experience, few if any brides – or wedding coordinators for that matter – realize that a wedding processional goes by quite quickly unless the bride walks a LONG way very slowly! So that processional song might only be played for a minute or so. Anyway, keep an eye out for my new site (separate from this one) in the near future.

New music is something I listen for all the time and one of the best albums I’ve heard lately is by the Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. I’ve always liked his music and admired his guitar playing, although his lyrics are often rather dark, angry and cynical, which is the main reason I don’t use many of his songs with my students. This new album however is all instrumental pieces and some of them are just breathtaking. Highly recommended if you’re a fan of finger-style acoustic guitar.

Next week I’ll be receiving one of the much talked-about “sinker” mahogany Martin D-18’s from Gruhn Music in Nashville. These guitars are supposed to have amazing vintage sound right out of the box because they are made from mahogany that was harvested in Belize in the late 1800s and early 1900s and then sunken (hence the name) in rivers there. Some of those logs were recently discovered, purchased by Martin and then carefully dried. Used for the guitar back and sides and paired with an Adirondack spruce top they have received glowing reviews from anyone who’s played one. For example, after Gruhn received their initial shipment of 12 guitars, Vince Gill came in and bought three (!). In the recent PBS Ken Burns documentary on country music Vince is holding one as he was interviewed. Apparently there is only enough of the sinker mahogany to make about 240 instruments, all of which are promised to Gruhn so between that and the fact that Vince (who is one of my favorite guitarists) loved them I knew I had to have one. Details soon after I’ve played mine for a while.

I’ve received lots of wonderful comment about the feature on Yours Truly in the recent issues of the Enterprise newspapers. This has been very gratifying and much appreciated. At the very least, it gave voice to my background for my children and grandchildren, something that I think is very important.

Finally, for all you guitarists who live in this part of the world, don’t forget that winter is looming and with it the use of central heating in our homes. Be sure to properly humidify your guitar. Dryness is the enemy of wood!